TIGAR Project From International Publishers Association “Accelerates Book Accessibility”

Launched in November 2010, the TIGAR Project continues to accelerate. The aim of the TIGAR project is to increase the number of accessible books available worldwide; specifically, to provide access to copyright-protected works in accessible formats for people with print disabilities across borders. Participants include WIPO, publishers and collective management organizations, and organizations that provide specialized library services for people with print disabilities.

TIGAR’s key achievements to date include:

Participation of accessibility organizations in Australia, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, France, Jamaica, Norway, the Netherlands, New Zealand, South Africa, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United States. We are also in conversation with countries in Africa and Asia to extend our participation further into developing countries.

Participation of more than 30 leading publishers and collective rights management organizations.

Books in an array of languages are available through the TIGAR network. The first international exchange of accessible books took place in October 2011 between organisations in Canada, Denmark, and France. Since that time more than 500 have been selected by participating organizations from the thousands available and shared for cross border exchange.

“The real impact of the TIGAR Project is the impact it makes in the lives of people with print disabilities”, said François Hendrikz of the South African Library for the Blind. “For example, one of the titles we selected was a book by Erik Orsenna, a French novelist and member of the Académie Française. The book, “L’Entreprise des Indes” is highly recommended as a ‘coup de coeur’ and thanks to the TIGAR project it was available to print disabled readers in Canada at the same time as it was available to sighted readers.”

Gary Price (gprice@mediasourceinc.com) is a librarian, writer, consultant, and frequent conference speaker based in the Washington D.C. metro area. Before launching INFOdocket, Price and Shirl Kennedy were the founders and senior editors at ResourceShelf and DocuTicker for 10 years. From 2006-2009 he was Director of Online Information Services at Ask.com, and is currently a contributing editor at Search Engine Land.